Spirited Away Once Again
by Japanakr11
Summary: The arrival of a strange new student and an old friend, and a new threat... All on the first day of school! Read and Review please!
1. The First Day

Spirited Away…Again

Chapter 1

"Mom, Dad! I'm off!" Chihiro shouted as she opened the door. Her Mom quickly ran up and gave her a hug.

"Have a great day, honey!" She kissed her daughter's forehead and Chihiro walked out the door. She grabbed her bike off of the porch of their blue house and carried it toward a girl with black hair waiting in her driveway.

"Come on, Chihiro! We are going to be late!" The girl began to ride her bike down the road as Chihiro was just getting on her own bike.

"Suzuka, wait!" Chihiro called. The girls giggled as she caught up.

Chihiro was now starting her third year of middle school. It has been three years since she moved into the Hannichi district and they had flown by quickly. It seemed like only a week ago she was with Haku in the Spirit Bathhouse, where she had fallen in love for the first time. She missed him and most of her knew she would never see him again, but part of her remembered his words saying that they would see each other again.

As they passed by a brook, Chihiro slowed down without thinking. She felt a pull toward it until she felt Suzuka's hand on her shoulder.

"What's up?" She asked, very concerned about this trance her best friend was under. Chihiro blinked.

"Oh I was just thinking," She smiled.

"About what?" Suzuka asked. She knew something was going on.

"An old friend," Chihiro glanced at the brook and gave a reassuring smile to Suzuka, "Let's keep going."

Suzuka was still a little skeptical but she and Chihiro remounted their bikes and continued on.

The Hannichi Middle School seemed lonelier for some reason this year. Maybe it was because this was her last year before high school. Chihiro and Suzuka chained up their bikes and went their separate ways.

Chihiro's day was like any other first day of school. She reunited with friends and met her teachers. Nothing spectacular happened until the last class of the day.

"Class, I know that most of you have been together for a long time, so I want to introduce Zero Mitsuba. He is new to the district so make him feel welcome!" The teacher stood up and gestured for Zero to do the same.

You could feel the air being sucked out of the room. He was gorgeous! He seemed so mysterious and you could almost feel a magnetic pull towards him. He had hair as dark as night, but a face as pale as the moon. The only disturbing things about him were his eyes. The blackest of black that seemed to search your soul…

He turned around and smiled to everyone, giving small bows to general clumps of people. When he saw Chihiro, He stiffened and his face grew wary. He sat back down, leaving Chihiro puzzled and a bit frustrated that she had somehow made a bad first impression an this handsome new student.

The bell rang and she left feeling a bit dejected. When everyone had left the hallway, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around. There was no one there, just the white lockers and green linoleum floor.

"Sen!" She heard a familiar voice. A glimmer of hope spoke saying it could be Haku, but it was crushed when she realized that Haku would simply call her Chihiro in this world. She looked toward the voice. It was Zero. Strange, she thought, How does he know about that name?

"Oh, Sen! I'm so glad you're here!" Zero embraced Chihiro, much to her surprise, "I thought that woman had sent me to the wrong school, but then I saw you and…" Chihiro broke free and covered his mouth.

"Who are you, really?" She asked with a serious tone and a straight face. She was not going to rejoice until she knew who this was and how he knew her name from the Spirit World.

"You really don't recognize me?" Zero looked very hurt and despondent, as if she was supposed to know who he was. Chihiro searched his face, staring deep into his black eyes. She gasped and covered her mouth when she realized whom she was talking to.

"No-Face, how did you get here?"


	2. Zero and an Old Friend

Chapter 2

"You remembered! I'm so happy, Sen!" Zero hugged a bewildered Chihiro. Shaking off the initial daze of her discovery, Chihiro pushed him away.

"First of all, my name is not Sen. My real name is Chihiro. Yubaba stole my name to try and control me and Sen was the name I was given in its place. Secondly, you haven't answered my question. How did you get here and why did you come here?" Chihiro asked, starting to get annoyed.

You are not happy to see me?" Zero asked, very crestfallen.

"At the moment, not really. Don't get me wrong! I like you a lot, and you turned out to be good in the end, but I wasn't expecting this at all and I still don't know how you got here!" Chihiro sighed. Zero started to get frustrated too.

"Fine! This is how I got here. I was happy living in Zeneiba's house, but I started to miss you and I begged her to let me see you. She finally agreed and gave me this human body. She is allowing me to stay like this until I complete this mission that she gave me. She wouldn't let me see you without accepting it. If I succeed, I can stay human until I die, but if I fail, I have to stay with her forever," Zero explained hurriedly, "Any questions?" He folded his arms across his chest and shifted his weight to his right foot. Chihiro didn't understand his mood swing from a perky third-year, happy to see her, to this brooding young man, shooting daggers with his eyes.

"What is your mission?" Chihiro asked warily. Zero sighed, with an exasperated look on his face.

"Don't you think I would have told you that if I could? If I tell you it will ruin the whole mission!" Zero answered with an annoyed look on his face. Chihiro felt guilty.

"Look, No-Face…"

"Just call me Zero in this world," Zero replied coldly.

"Ok, Zero. I'm sorry if I offended you. It's just, I'm baffled by your visit, and though I do like you as I said before, I'm also scared of you because of the way you went rampant in the bath house." Chihiro replied, trying to make amends. Zero's face softened.

"It's alright, but my little fit and my bath house rampage were hardly under my control! Walk with me and I'll explain," he began to walk toward the double doors that led to the courtyard. Chihiro followed him and went through the door as Zero opened it for her.

"You see, I'm a wraith, a ghost if you will, that feeds off people's emotions. Just back there, you were becoming frustrated, so I was too. When you first saw me though, I was shocked to see you, so I had control of my own emotions long enough to give you a look that you seem to regret getting. Sorry about that. I just couldn't believe you were there!"

"It's ok," Chihiro, said, "Now please, continue," she began to listen very closely.

Well, the bathhouse was full of those greedy staff members that wanted gold, and I fed off of that. I guess you could say I'm a kind of people pleaser too. When you let me in from the rain, I wanted to repay you. Seeing you happy with the bath token made me want to give you more. That's why I brought you all of those bath tokens, and since the staff was pleased with the gold, I gave them as much gold as possible, which was only painted dirt basically." Zero finished as they reached Chihiro's bike. He watched as she unchained it, and she was about to get on when she heard another familiar voice.

"Chihiro!"

Her heart skipped a few beats. She was pretty sure she knew whom it was she slowly turned around. Her heart almost leapt out of heart chest toward the person. Her face grew as bright as the sun, and she screamed:

"Haku!!"

She threw her bike aside and ran to Haku with arms outstretched. They embraced and Chihiro started to cry tears of utter joy.

"How are you here?" She managed to ask.

"Since the Kohaku River has been filled in, I asked the Spirit King to give me a human body. He agreed on a condition, and now I will be a mortal until I die!" Haku explained, "I wanted to see you again, and since the river doesn't really exist anymore, I thought, what are the consequences?" He smiled at Chihiro and she beamed back through her tears.

"This is so unlike you! You seemed like the person who would never do something like that, doing something so rash as to become human. I'm surprised in a good way to see you, Haku! I've missed you so much!!" Chihiro managed to choke out. Haku chuckled and put his forehead against hers.

"You never got to see what a free spirit I am, no pun intended. While under Yubaba's control, I was forced to be as strict and harsh as I was. In reality, I am still responsible and protective, but I am not as cautious and harsh as I used to be." Haku stared into her blue eyes. Chihiro was about to ask a question, but he put his finger to her lips. Her face turned a bright shade of pink.

"The condition was that I had to bring you back to the Spirit World one more time." Chihiro became puzzled and shocked.

Why?"

Haku didn't answer, but simply stared at the person behind her, realizing that they had an audience to their reunion. Chihiro turned around.

Zero once again had his arms crossed and his weight on his right foot. He was glaring at Haku.

"Why are you upset?" Chihiro asked him innocently, not picking up on Haku's mood behind her.

"Well, if my own emotions are strong enough, I can take control. For example, if the atmosphere is happy, and I detest it with a hellish passion, then my detestation comes through," Zero replied, aiming the last part towards Haku.

"Are you sure you're not just feeding off of my emotions?" Haku retorted. Chihiro looked at him and saw that he was mirroring Zero exactly.

Zero straightened up. His closed his eyes and turned his face to the sky. He shuddered, which caused Chihiro to take hold of Haku's arm, and he looked back at the frightened Chihiro and Haku.

"I can feel your hate, but they are not for the same reasons as my own, for now."

Chihiro gave a confused look at Zero, and then turned to Haku.

"Why are you upset?" Chihiro inquired.

"Well the reason that you have to come back to the Spirit world is because it has been taken over," Haku pointed at Zero, "By his brother."


End file.
